Critic says ‘Wild Hogs’ lacks humor, interesting characters
Billy Crystal, you’ve been robbed. The folks behind “Wild Hogs” took your “City Slickers” plot about bored middle-aged guys, changed the mode of transportation from horses to motorcycles and then sent the characters on a road trip instead of a cattle drive.
Just one problem: they forgot to give “Wild Hogs” any funny lines, interesting characters or heartfelt moments.
In the PG-13 picture, four middle-aged buddies – Doug (Tim Allen of “The Santa Clause”), Woody (John Travolta of “Pulp Fiction”), Bobby (Martin Lawrence of “Big Momma’s House”) and Dudley (William H. Macy of “The Cooler”) – have reached what they view as dead-end points in their lives. Doug is a dull suburban dentist, Woody is going broke due to a divorce from his beautiful wife, Bobby is a plumber with a demanding spouse and Dudley is a computer geek unable to find a girlfriend.
To feel like men again, they plan to take their Harleys out of their garages, hit the open highway and turn their backs on middle-class life for a few days.
The trek, which is peppered with insulting gay jokes, takes them to a small town in New Mexico where the born-to-be-mild riders encounter a real biker gang (led by Ray Liotta of “GoodFellas”). The good guys also face their fears and help a caf? owner (Marisa Tomei of “My Cousin Vinny”) after the outlaws threaten to torch her business.
Few clich?s are left unturned in this laugh-challenged tale, and because it contains so many dull long stretches, viewers have time to wonder why incredibly wealthy performers such as Allen, Travolta and Lawrence would lend their time and talents to the lame enterprise. It’s easy to understand that the very talented, modestly paid Macy and Liotta would take the roles to build up their bank accounts, but the other three stars have cash to burn.
Perhaps the “Wild Hogs” script looked genuinely funny and the actors felt they’d be able to punch it up during the filming. Unfortunately, the bland result desperately needs some edgy gags – a la “Wedding Crashers” – that might have given the strained material some punch.
Postscript: According to the Internet Movie Database, the original script referred to Liotta’s gang as the Hells Angels. The name was changed to the Del Fuegos after the leaders of the famous biker club threatened to sue the production company for using their name.
FILM REVIEW
“Wild Hogs”
Grade: C-
Starring: Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy, Ray Liotta and Marisa Tomei; written by Brad Copeland; directed by Walt Becker.
Running Time: 99 minutes.
Parental Guide: PG-13 (crude humor, sexual content, gay-bashing jokes, some broad violence).